Her birth name was Emilie Claudette Chauchoin in Saint-Mande, France. Her father was a banker, and he moved his family to the U.S. when she was three. Her one ambition in life as she grew was to be a Broadway actress. Films were virtually nonexistent back then--only some silent films. In 1923, she made her Broadway debut in The Wild Wescotts and took on the stage name of Claudette Colbert.
When the Great Depression came, many Broadway theatres closed, and so she decided to try out movies. Her first film in 1927 (For the Love of Mike) was a disaster. She longed for the stage, but her only options seemed to be movies. She starred in several films that did fairly well in the 1930's opposite Frederic March.
Claudette Colbert is best remembered for her performance in It Happened One Night (1934) opposite Clark Gable. Honestly, if you have not seen this film, I can't recommend it enough. Even my 8-year-old daughter enjoyed it, and that is saying a lot. She won an Academy Award for best actress for that film (Gable also won for best actor).
In the 1940's and 1950's, she did not appear in films as much, but she was seen in occasional television shows. She did return to the stage in 1966. She divided her time between Barbados and New York. She died at the age of 92 on July 30, 1996 in Barbados.
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